Railway brake



H. R. GRIFFITHS ET AL May 15, 1923.

RAILWAY BRAKE:

Filed May 28 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Zmuemiwrw Jfarzy R. Gnif fi 9 Samuel 6. Walke May 15, 1923.

H. R. GRIFFITHS ET AL RA I LWAY BRAKE Filed May 28, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 HARRY a. qRIrFI'rHs AND SAMUEL G.

p meats? arw. arm.

WALKER, F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

RAILWAY BEE.

Application filed May 28,

To all who-m it may concern: Be it known that we, HARRY R. GRIFFITHS and SAMUEL G. WALKER, citizens of the United States, and residents of Baltimore,

in the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Brakes, of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention relates to railroad car brakes and more particularly to abrake either motor or air operated but manually controlled from a point exterior to said car.

The modern coal pier is equipped with a rocking cradle upon which a car load of coal is run, the cradle being provided with a plurality of clamps adapted to secure the car to the track of the cradle. Upon rocking the cradle, the track and loaded car are lifted upwardly and tilted laterally until the contents of the car is discharged into the pit. As at present constructed, the cradle is elevated about 10 feet above the railroad yard level, and the loaded cars are pulled up the incline by what is termed aBarney and then allowed to drift onto the cradle at a speed of 4 to 5 miles per hour. fore, the only method of spotting the car, or stopping the same at the proper position on the cradle was by the use of the ordinary car equipment of hand brakes operated by a brakeman. As the length of track on the cradle is only a few feet longer than the car, it is imperative that the car be stopped in a proper position. In numerous instances the car will either overrun or stop short of the cradle, which necessitates moving the car with a pinch bar. a slow and unnecessary operation. Fully 10 percent of the cars loaded on the cradle do not respond to the hand brakesand roll down the opposite incline to the empty yard.

The primary object of this invention then is to positively spot a loaded car on the cradle by means manually controlled but exterior to the car, as from a switch tower from which the cradle'rocking mechanism is also actuated.

Such a device would not only save valuable'time in unloading cars by making unnecessary the pinching backward or forward of the misplaced cars, but would eliminate the services of a brakeman who is usually detailed to the coal pit.

These and other objects we attain by the use ofthis device and the invention consists in a brake mechanism, carried by the cradle,

Hereto- 1921. Serial No. 473,550.

actuated preferably by power, but manually controlled from a point exterior to the car or cradle.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the cradle and associated mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a plan View of the mechanism with the car body removed.

Fig. 3 is a view of the braking mechanism partly in section.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the views, the numeral 1 indicates the cradle frame upon which is movably mounted a platen, one of itscross ties being shown at2, having I beams at each end thereof. as at 3. The platen 2 is movable laterally by means of rollers 41 and actuated by any suitable mechanism 5 which is shown to consist of a spring tending to push against member 3 thus moving the assembly to the right until it abuts part 5 which is so placed that when one of the members 3 contacts therewith the mechanism is in its proper position.

On the I beams is bolted the section of track 6 upon which the loaded car shown diagrammatically at 7 is adapted to rest.

The cradle frame 1 extends upwardly as at 1 to a hinge 8 above the car and the clamp 9 pivoted to 1 at 10 .is adapted to close down on the car by means of counterweights or any suitable mechanism.

As this invention is not concerned with the actuating mechanism or construction of the cradle, these parts are shown merely diagrammatically to give a clearer idea of the coordination of the entire mechanism.

The cradle usually is provided with L plates 11 suitably bolted to the platen and in proximity to the rails 6 to prevent the loaded car from jumping the track.

The preferred form of our braking mechanism is shown to consist of a series of levers 12. pivoted longitudinally as at 13, said pivots being journaled in bearings 14 bolted or otherwise secured to the platen 2. The upper arm of each lever 12 extends in a substantially inverted L direction, the horizontal portion being slotted as at 15 to receive the T-shaped brake shoe 16. The slot 15 is preferably of a greater width than the thickness of the engaged portion of the brake shoe, which will allow a certain amount of lost motion of the shoe when pinned to the leverby loose fitting members 17. This lost motion connection serves as a centering device for the shoe when applied to the inner face of the wheels.

The lower ends of levers 12 extend downwardly and are adapted to be engaged by any ordinary actuating mechanism of the differential compensating type, said mechanism engaging opposite lever ends at the same time and drawing them toward each other. It is to be understood that this actuating mechanism forms no part of this invention and therefore any suitable device will suffice but we are not concerned therewith. It is preferable to control the actuatlng mechanism from a point exterior of the car or cradle, such as from the cab from which the cradle rocking means is also controlled. This controlling means may \be of any suitable design, and per se, forms no part of this invention. Means are provided to retract the shoes from contact with the wheels as bysprings 18 connected to levers 12 and I beams 3.

It will now be seen that the operation of the brakes may readily be controlled from the operators cab of the cradle, and that through the instrumentalities shown each car may be positively spotted in its proper position on the cradle track section.

Obviously various modifications of this construction may occur to those skilled in this art and may be practiced without departing from the spirit of our invention.

What we claim is In combination, a railroad cradle adapted to empty loaded cars, a track thereon, brake mechanism between the rails of said track including a pivot member extending below and above said track, the upper part thereof carrying car wheel engaging means, the lower part being attached to actuating means adapted to cause the wheel engaging means to approach a car wheel upon the track, said wheel engaging means being carried in a slot in the upper end of the pivoted member by a lost motion connection.

In testimony whereof, we aifix our signatures.

' HARRY R. GRIFFITHS. SAMUEL G. WALKER. 

